〈System Alert: You have been logged out of the game for more than 24 hours, adjusting...〉

〈System Alert: Adjustment Successful!〉

〈System Alert: Since you have been disconnected for 24 or more hours, you have gained the temporary passive skill «Equalizer» 〉

Izroth had been logged off for around 3-4 hours in real-world time, the equivalent of 30-40 hours within the game. So there was a lot of catching up to do.

Now that he was completely fused with the original owner of this body memories, many matters that he was unclear about before were now much easier to comprehend.

Thanks to that, he knew exactly what benefits the «Equalizer» skill gave to players, especially those who were unable to play for countless hours like players within large guilds. After all, the original owner of this body researched RML extensively, as this was going to be the game that was going to eventually change their life.

Skill Name: Equalizer

Skill Rank: Unranked

Passive: The user gains a temporary increase of 100% EXP for all quests, kills, and EXP gained related to professions.

Time Limit: 1 Hour

Special Note: The timer for this skill does not start until the user gains some form of EXP.

This skill was something that developers put into the game so that players would not fall too far behind other players due to the time ratio of 10:1. At the very least, they would not feel as badly punished for having to log off and tend to things in the real world.

The longer a player was gone for, the longer the time limit on the «Equalizer» skill would last. Of course, this skill had its own limitations.

Izroth was standing just outside of the «Amaharpe Auction House», which was the location where he logged out. It was not as crowded as when he put the «Nameless Blade» up for sale, but there was still a large crowd of players gathered.

'Before I leave «Amaharpe», I should look into getting myself a profession. It's long overdue...' Because he didn't need to manually search for previously gained knowledge anymore he felt like a tiger with wings.

This early into the game, those who excelled at their profession were capable of having the most stable of income. Also, having a profession came in handy as it would reduce the cost of items you could make yourself.

The very moment he arrived in «Amaharpe», he should have taken a profession. In fact, there were many opportunities that he could have capitalized on. For instance back when he was within the «Dungeon: Goblin's Paradise».

There was something called 'Full Clearing' and it was when a player would sweep through the entire dungeon to eliminate all the monsters and gain the maximum amount of EXP.

There were various pathways inside of the «Dungeon: Goblin's Paradise», however, it never crossed Izroth's mind that there may have been hidden bosses or even some treasures and monsters.

'It appears I've not been viewing the bigger picture of some of the things I've previously come across.' What's done was done and there was no way to turn back the hands of time, so Izroth could only move forward.

The carefree expression returned to Izroth's face as he started walking towards the profession district within «Amaharpe». The entrance to the district was on the other side of the road, not too far from the auction house.

Originally, Izroth was interested in having «Alchemist» as his profession, however, something else had caught his attention when he discovered the available choices. 'It appears that this profession was made just for me.' Izroth was referring to the «Apothecary» profession.

Being an «Apothecary» was considered the most time consuming and difficult of all the professions due to the unique way that it functioned. While an «Alchemist» was mainly focused on potions and transmutations, an «Apothecary» was centered around pills.

Unlike potions, the main goal of pills was to permanently increase the overall strength of the player. Though that was not the only thing that pills were capable of, there was a multitude of temporary effects they were able to grant the user in dangerous situations.

What really separated «Apothecary» from «Alchemist» within RML was the way each profession created their products. Unlike an «Alchemist» who simply mixed together the ingredients listed on a recipe, an «Apothecary» had to formulate their own methods and procedures.

While basic recipes did exist for the «Apothecary» profession, they were solely to build the foundations of the players. After that, players would have to depend on themselves to progress further.

This was the reason why all of the top guilds had an «Apothecary» division. Players within that division were primarily focused on making advancements that would put them ahead of the competition.

The temptation of permanent stat increases and other effects was too much to ignore for those looking to become the very best guild in RML.

Those who picked the «Apothecary» profession would have to spend the majority of their time finding new methods to create pills that produced the wanted results. However, according to the new information Izroth received from having fused completely with Jin, this was made for him!

Not only was Izroth the number one cultivator when he resided inside the Seven Realms, but he was also a master apothecary. The main challenge of converting his experience and vast knowledge from the Seven Realms would most likely be learning the different names of ingredients.

But a good apothecary could come up with various replacements for specific ingredients, and the game with its ability to perfectly describe item usages would make this transition much easier for Izroth.

'I can't fall too far behind in leveling, so I'll just get the profession for now and then when I have the time I'll look deeper into it...' This was the plan that Izroth had come up with.

There was only basic information available about the «Apothecary» profession, after all, no player would want to leak anything major to give others an edge.

As Izroth was walking around the profession district, he located a nearby sign that displayed the names of the various professions within the area and pointed in their direction using arrows. It only took him a brief glance to find out which way the «Apothecary» building was.

Izroth followed the direction of the arrow and within less than 10 minutes he arrived at a huge structure that was even bigger than the Combat Master class building! At the first top of the structure was a sign with the words «Apothecary III» written down; it was using Roman numerals instead of a number.

There were guards placed at the entrance just like at the auction house because of the importance of this location. Izroth entered into the «Apothecary» profession building without any trouble and when he stepped inside a powerful aroma drifted into his nose.

The aroma smelled as if it was formed by a mixture of many diverse ingredients. It reminded Izroth of the first time he learned about being an apothecary back in the Seven Realms. 'The similarities are uncanny.'

There was a middle-aged man with a rough around the edges appearance sitting behind what appeared to be a receptionist desk. His hair was unkempt, his eyes were bloodshot as if he hadn't slept in days, and he was currently concentrating on reading the book on his desk.

When Izroth got within range, the system revealed information regarding the middle-aged man.

NPC Name: Rigius

NPC Level: 10

Occupation: Apothecary I

When Rigius heard the footsteps approaching him, he glanced up from his book but saw that it was just a strange man. "We do not sell any pills here. All pills made by the official apothecaries of «Amaharpe» belongs solely to the governing entity of the capital city of «Amaharpe» to distribute."

Rigius' response sounded like he'd practiced rehearsing it over and over again. That was due to many players trying to come into the «Apothecary» profession building trying to purchase pills directly from them. However, this was against the laws of «Amaharpe».

Any pills made by players themselves could be sold freely in an open market, however, pills created by the official apothecaries of «Amaharpe» were not to be sold in an open market. All of the official apothecaries were paid by the governing power and provided endless research funds so money was not an issue.

Izroth shook his head, "I'm not here to purchase any pills, I wish to become an «Apothecary»."

Rigius looked up from the book he was reading and closed it before letting out a small sigh. "Are you sure this is the profession you wish to learn? Once you learn a profession, you can never learn another one. Let me tell you, this profession is nothing like the others."

"Most people may spend their entire lives stuck at the 1st rank of «Apothecary». If you do not possess the aptitude for it then you will be wasting your time. So I'll ask you again, are you sure you wish to become an «Apothecary»?" Rigius was giving Izroth a fair warning, as he did with all players.

Izroth nodded, "I'm sure of it, this is the profession I've chosen." He was extremely confident in his abilities, but Rigius viewed it as ignorant arrogance.

Rigius had been trying to progress to the 2nd rank of an «Apothecary» for many years now but was unable to do so. Too many people looked down on the difficulty of this profession and could only regret it later on when it was already too late to turn back.

Rigius stood up from his seat and started walking down the corridor on his right side, "Very well, follow me." Rigius would not let his personal feelings interfere with his job, so he gave Izroth no problems.

Izroth followed after Rigius until they arrived at the end of the long corridor. There was a huge door made of an exceptionally tough and durable material. Rigius pushed open the doors which turned out to be much lighter than they appeared to be.

The room was incredibly spacious, however, there were not many things inside it. At the very center of the room was a bronze colored cauldron. Not too far away were a few tables with various ingredients spread out everywhere.

"In order to be officially recognized as an «Apothecary», you must first pass a simple test to determine your aptitude." Due to how challenging the «Apothecary» profession was for average players, this was the last opportunity to back out provided by the game developers.

"To successfully pass the test, you must use any of the ingredients here to create at least 1 grade one pill. You can only perform the test a total of three times, after that you will be forever unable to become officially recognized as an «Apothecary»." Rigius did not bother mincing his words and was very straight-forward.

"Of course, we are not heartless. We will also provide you with ten basic pill recipes to choose from. The ingredients and basic techniques are listed in every recipe, therefore, it ultimately comes down to your natural talent." Rigius explained everything to Izroth.

"The time limit is one hour. After that, if you have not successfully created a single grade one pill, then the test will be counted as a failed attempt. The time begins the moment I leave the room. Also, do not bother trying to cheat and bring in an already made pill. The person who will judge the pill is a 3rd rank «Apothecary» so it will be impossible to try and fool him."

Izroth nodded showing that he understood all of the rules. He was curious if other professions had a similar aptitude test. "I'm ready." Izroth did not want to waste more time here than necessary, he wanted to get back to leveling up as soon as possible.

Rigius stepped out of the room, "Your time begins now." as Rigius closed the doors behind him.

〈System Alert: The time limit for the «Apothecary» aptitude test has begun: 1 Hour Remaining〉

Izroth walked over to the table containing the ingredients and examined every single one of them. 'Interesting... I might as well try them out since I have three tries.'

The next thing Izroth did was examine the cauldron in the middle of the room. It was just as he anticipated, the cauldron was indeed a magic item!

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